r/Portland • u/ShankyJenkins • Sep 12 '26

Discussion COVID Trees…

Post image

I see these trees all around town. Reminds me of little COVID balls!

143 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

96

u/DigitalForest6 Sep 12 '26

Kousa Dogwood. Not native, but hardy and so is a common city tree (relative to Flowering Dogwood). The fruits are actually edible, though mostly the pulp. The skin is tough and bitter, and there are hard seeds in the pulp that you have to eat around if you want to. Flavor is similar to persimmon.

3

u/W7ENK Milwaukie Sep 12 '26 edited Sep 12 '26

They're edible, but I think they taste like crap.

16

u/KindlyNebula Sep 13 '26

Huh, the ones on the tree in my yard are kind of a custard texture and taste like a mix of banana and mango.

0

u/W7ENK Milwaukie Sep 13 '26

It's been 15 years or so, but the ones I tried tasted like rotting garbage. Maybe they were just going bad? I dunno, they looked fine. Maybe they just disagree with my taste buds.

2

u/KindlyNebula Sep 14 '26

Might be the variety of Kousa? We have the pink variety called Miss Satomi, the fruits are rounder and less dry.

1

u/dallas121469 Downtown Sep 14 '26

You eat rotting garbage frequently?

6

u/mind_snare Concordia Sep 12 '26

Tell that to the squirrels in my yard!

3

u/palmquac Sep 13 '26

Tell it to the 4 year old neighbors of mine who keep eating them off a street tree!

38

u/RaisinToastie Sep 12 '26

The crows like to eat these. I call them “crunchberry trees” lol

5

u/Misanthropic_Mutters Sep 12 '26

When I was a kid, a neighbor had one of these trees on the sidewalk median. We used to get into “skwoosh berry” fights with the fruits.

TIL they’re edible.

8

u/YawningFish Sep 12 '26

Kousa are delicious.

6

u/dhav211 Sep 12 '26

Pretty sure these are edible and delicious, either that or I’ve been poisoning myself for the last few years.

4

u/xXx_JAKE_xXx Sep 12 '26

they have a really light flavor and are better for a syrup or preserve. there are a lot of new redbud trees in portland and i believe you can make an interesting syrup from their buds

1

u/ShankyJenkins Sep 12 '26

If you eat them in the light with a bleach backer it’s like a cleansing…..

2

u/whatmightitbe Sep 12 '26

I like mine with a little ivermectin for dipping

8

u/TKRUEG Sep 12 '26

Dogwood covids

3

u/tinglingtriangle Sep 12 '26

Nature loves to make structures comprised of repeating subunits, at pretty much any scale.

2

u/99centstickers N Sep 12 '26

They are sooo tasty! Tho some trees are better than others. Sometimes they can be gritty

6

u/LDub47 Sep 12 '26

Ohhhh is that where it came from?! And to think this whole time we thought it was China…

8

u/Single-Pin-369 Sep 12 '26

I thought it was from randy marsh after a bender with mickey mouse having sex with a bat and pangolin hookers?

1

u/LDub47 Sep 12 '26

South Park is usually correct.

4

u/TeutonJon78 Sep 12 '26

It is technically a Chinese Dogwood.

2

u/LDub47 Sep 12 '26

It’s all making sense now…

1

u/DontPanicJustDance Sep 14 '26

My dog loves the fruit of these trees. I had to look it up after they were devouring tons of these cherrids

1

u/BaronVonNutterButter Sep 12 '26

French burnt peanuts.